Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
Shuchi’in Academy, High School Division, Class 2-A.
Today was April 2nd, the first day of the new semester.
In the lively classroom, the boys were busy boasting and checking out the pretty girls in class.
The girls, in turn, gathered in small circles.
They cliqued up based on their families, clubs, and fashion styles.
Kazama Kiryu sat in the third-to-last row, by the window, gazing at the cherry blossoms dancing outside.
His expression was calm.
(T/N: The MC’s real name is Chinese, Lin Shu, so I changed it to Kazama Kiryu for better reading experience.)
Sixteen years ago, he had suddenly found himself transmigrated—body and all, reverted to his childhood appearance—into this world that mashed up various daily-life anime.
Time passed, and things changed.
The foster parents who had taken him in back then had passed away one after another, leaving him a considerable inheritance.
Normally, at this point, he might have followed the pattern of a typical mixed-anime world’s protagonist…
Flitting between those vibrant and lovely anime girls, living a happy, fulfilling harem life from then on.
But due to a chance encounter, he realized with a shock that this world wasn’t as peaceful as it seemed on the surface.
Busujima Saeko—that was the heroine from the anime “Highschool of the Dead”.
Her presence meant a zombie apocalypse would likely break out in the future!
Kiryu could no longer continue his relaxed, leisurely daily life like before.
Using the inheritance left by his foster parents, he trained himself as best he could, stockpiled resources, built a shelter…
If it weren’t for his guardian, Hiratsuka Shizuka, keeping a strict watch on him, he would have given up on school altogether.
“…”
Pulling back his tangled thoughts, Kiryu sighed softly.
Trying to convince people in a peaceful, modern society that a zombie apocalypse would happen was extremely difficult, to say the least.
After failing to convince Hiratsuka Shizuka, he stopped trying.
He didn’t want his Japanese literature teacher, worried he had developed a delusional disorder, to drag him to a psychiatric hospital.
[Death Game Initiated.
Ten-second countdown begins…]
[10, 9, 8…
3, 2, 1!]
“?!”
As the cold, electronic voice finished its announcement in his head,
Kiryu felt his vision blur.
Suddenly, he was in a strange classroom.
Unlike the tidy classroom of the real world, the place he was in now was quite messy.
The surrounding walls were covered in chaotic graffiti.
The windows were nailed shut with boards and reinforced with barbed wire.
The podium and desks were all piled up against the door.
It looked like someone had deliberately tried to ward off some unknown threat.
Kiryu quickly scanned his surroundings.
He realized he wasn’t the only one transported here by that eerie [Death Game].
Besides his classmates Hayama Hayato, Miura Yumiko, Yuigahama Yui, Tobe Kakeru, Yamato, and Ooka…
There was also Yukinoshita Yukino from the neighboring Class 2-B.
And several other Shuchi’in Academy’s students wearing the school uniform.
‘Why is it all Oregairu characters?
Where’s Shinomiya Kaguya?’ Kiryu couldn’t help but complain.
“…”
Suddenly transported to an unfamiliar environment, Yukinoshita Yukino was equally bewildered.
Her eyebrows were knitted so tightly they almost fused.
Her icy gaze briefly met his before quickly looking away.
Clearly, she didn’t know how this sudden “transmigration” happened either.
‘Twenty-two people in total, all high school students.’
Kiryu counted heads silently, his expression unchanged.
After the initial shock and fear, everyone started trying to find a way out of the classroom.
The surroundings immediately grew noisy.
“Hey, hey, hey!!
What the hell is going on?!”
“Hello?!
Is anyone there?
Who trapped us here?
Let us out!”
“Is this a prank?
Or some kind of hidden camera show?”
“My dad is the president of the Yamato Group!
You’d better let me out, fast!”
“Waaah…
Mom!”
Most of these trapped people were well-off second-generation heirs.
Suddenly facing such a bizarre situation, fear was written all over their faces.
They all thought they were being kidnapped.
Some even tried threatening and bribing the mastermind behind the scenes.
Shhh—!
Suddenly, the chalk tray on the podium vibrated with a low hum.
The next moment, under everyone’s astonished gazes, a piece of white chalk suddenly flew out of the tray.
It began rapidly writing a line of characters on the otherwise blank blackboard.
[Mission Name: 7 Days to Die]
[Mission Type: Novice Trial]
[Mission Objective: Survive safely in this instance world for seven days to obtain official player status.]
[Mission Reward 1: 200 bonus EXP]
[Mission Reward 2: 400 Game Coins]
Pat.
The chalk that had finished writing fell to the floor with a crisp sound.
The text on the blackboard remained for a minute before quickly fading away.
Something to note: soon after, more unsettling, crimson, dancing characters appeared.
[Novice Protection Countdown Begins.
Current time limit: 4:59]
[All newcomers, a melee weapon crate has been unlocked.
Please claim your weapon promptly.]
As the words faded, a shimmering black metal chest suddenly appeared in the middle of the classroom, startling everyone.
The cold, electronic voice continued its detached announcement.
[“Newcomer Gift” distributed to all newcomers.
Think [Death Game] in your mind to claim it.]
‘Death Game.’
With only five minutes of protection time, Kiryu didn’t dare delay.
After thinking the words, he felt a warmth on the back of his hand.
A red, thorny rose brand had appeared there without warning.
Following the system prompt, Kiryu discovered that this thorny rose brand, eerily resembling a real one, was invisible to everyone else.
Inside was a storage space roughly the size of 10 cubic meters.
At that moment, a grey mental imprint was floating inside the storage space.
When Kiryu tried to touch it, the imprint melted away like ice, transforming into a strange rune surrounded by a pale blue current.
[Item Name: Air Rune]
[Quality: Crude]
[Effect: After mastering this rune, you automatically gain Wind Element affinity.
Base speed increases by 10%.
Attacks have a chance to deal a small amount of bonus Wind Element damage.]
[Equip Condition: None]
[Note: The wind is everywhere.]
Then, a crisp electronic sound suddenly rang in his ears.
‘Is this…
a system?’
Kiryu was slightly stunned.
He kept his expression neutral, not letting anyone else notice anything unusual, but his heart began to race.
After binding with the system, he received corresponding information.
The system’s name is Infinite Trait Upgrade System.
It allowed him to defeat or kill enemies and steal their innate traits.
The obtained traits could be used by himself or granted to others or even other items.
The trait levels were, in order: White, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Gold, and Rainbow.
‘A small cheat is still a cheat…
Isn’t this an opportunity?’
Kiryu was ecstatic inside.
Forcing down his excitement, he walked steadily to the black metal weapon crate and picked out a long, sharp katana.
Each person could choose one melee weapon from the black crate.
With the “Newcomer Gift”, this was a fairly friendly start.
But Kiryu hadn’t forgotten the mission name: 7 Days to Die.
If this mission world was the same as a popular online co-op game of the same name from his past life…
Then the difficulty level would skyrocket several notches.
[0:00]
The five minutes of novice protection time passed in an instant.
Almost as soon as the crimson characters hit zero, a bone-chilling roar erupted from behind the classroom door.
Boom!
Immediately after, the right-side window, wrapped in nails and barbed wire, seemed to be struck by a heavy hammer and shattered violently.
A girl standing near the window, completely unprepared for this, was caught off guard.
Before she could react, a withered, rotting arm grabbed her firmly.
“Ah!!!
Help, someone help me!!”
The terrified screams made everyone instinctively step back.
Even Yukino, who had been silent the whole time, trembled, her face turning pale as a ghost.
It happened in an instant.
The girl struggled frantically, trying to pull her arm back.
But something outside the window, something incredibly strong, had it locked tight.
She was pinned against the window, unable to move.
Her struggles were useless.
“Graaah…”
A hideous zombie head, its skin highly decayed as if doused with concentrated sulfuric acid, squeezed through the bloodied arm.
Its lipless mouth was full of jagged, sharp canine teeth.
It voraciously tore large chunks of flesh from the girl’s arm.
The horrifying sound of chewing and swallowing made some of the weaker-willed ones clutch their stomachs and vomit on the spot.
“Help me…
please, someone help me…
they’re eating me!”
“Yumi!!”
A friend of the girl, seeing her in such agony, frantically turned to the nearby boys for help.
“Everyone…
please, please save Yumi!!”
But even though every boy held a menacing weapon,
Not one dared to step forward and save the girl named Yumi.
Everyone seemed terrified by this bloody scene.
Moreover, in the current cold-hearted society, few people willingly risked helping others.
‘These boys…
they won’t even fight back?!’
Yukino looked around anxiously, her eyes blazing.
Those who met her gaze, knowing they were in the wrong, looked down in shame.
“Yukino, I…”
Hayama Hayato, who had grown up with her, couldn’t stand her cold stare.
He stammered, about to rush forward to help,
But Yukino had already turned away, her expression cold.
“Human life is at stake.
Since none of you will save her, I will!”
But what could a delicate girl like her really do?
Could she really take down zombies with a few minor Aikido tricks?
Just as Yukino gritted her teeth, mustered her courage, and prepared to rush forward to save the girl…
Suddenly,
A flash of bright blade light flew before her eyes like a startled swan, cleanly chopping off the girl’s arm.
Sclick!
The girl’s arm had been stretched to its limit.
The flesh was pulled grotesquely long.
Cut suddenly by that blade, it snapped with a sharp crack.
The white layer of fat and bright red tendons were exposed horrifically to the air.
Seconds later, blood began to ooze from the severed stump.
“Move!”
A cold male voice came from behind.
Startled, Yukino instinctively stepped aside.
Kiryu, gripping his katana, lunged forward like a striding dragon.
In that fleeting moment, as fast as lightning, he slashed his katana diagonally across the zombie’s chest.
With a crisp shrrrp, the bright blade cut clean through.
The wound ran from the zombie’s left shoulder down to its right hip.
It looked exactly like the cut of the robe worn by a Buddhist monk, the kesa.
Splat.
A large pile of stinking, black-red internal organs spilled out along the gaping wound, plopping onto the floor.
Iai — Kesagiri!
The results of his dedicated training were on full display at that moment.
[Defeated ‘Inferior Breed Zombie x1’.
Extract trait?]
‘Yes.’
He immediately stepped forward to check the trait dropped by this zombie.
[Superhuman Strength (Green): Your physical strength greatly increases.
Your body possesses significant potential.
With training, this can be further enhanced, allowing your body to continuously evolve.]
‘Good stuff!’
A hint of joy flashed in Kiryu’s eyes.
He chose to claim it without hesitation.
The next instant, he felt his strength surging.
His muscle fibers felt like tightly coiled ropes, all converging at once.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes, a blinding silver light suddenly lit up the room.
Kiryu stood holding his katana diagonally.
The silver blade, like a clear mirror, reflected his expressionless face.
The broken window, strained by the force of the struggle, now had a massive gap.
A wave of zombies began pouring in like a tide through the opening.
Outside, a massive, roaring, shoulder-to-shoulder black mass of corpses was vaguely visible.
Slash!
The immense power brought absolute speed.
Under Yukino’s shocked gaze, that tall figure fearlessly charged forward again.
The light, sharp, urgent sounds of slicing filled the air, overlapping each other.
The vortex-like, churning, snow-bright blade light illuminated the classroom thoroughly.
[Acquired White Trait!]
[Acquired Green Trait!]
[Acquired White Trait!]
[Acquired Blue Trait!]
The system’s synthetic electronic chime echoed in his ears without pause.
Kiryu killed relentlessly.
Facing the surging tide of zombies, he was like a sturdy riverbank resisting a massive flood, refusing to step back.
He was drenched in filthy, coagulated blood.
His handsome features gained a touch of fierce killing intent.
Finally,
No one knew how long had passed.
Only when the constant sounds of shocked, terrified gasps came from behind him did he realize.
Looking outside the broken window, there were no more zombies standing.